Hey everyone.

Finally got to Part Two of the Ulduar arc! I finished it partly to celebrate getting my second book up on Amazon, and partly so I could shamelessly plug my new book here :).

My new published novel is Corsairs by Nate Jones, dp/B00M4U4SCK Corsairs is Young Adult fantasy about Kale, an orphan who's offered a chance to escape the orphanage and live a life in the sky. I've noticed a lot of anime and RPG creators love airships, and my own love of them inspired this story. If you want to see the first few chapters you can search inside it on Amazon, or I've got a promo for it tagged to the end of my "Demon Hunter" book so you can check it out there.

As a thank you to all my readers Corsairs is up for free on Amazon until August 1st, so now's your chance to pick it up and check it out. And if you miss the promotion I hope you'll consider buying it anyway. It's priced at $2.99, the standard price for ebooks.

My first published novel, Salzan by Nathan Jones, is also up on Amazon for $2.99. dp/B00KGHKEIK Inspired by the idea of inner city gang warfare in a fantasy setting, it's one of those stories that flowed from me whole and came together beautifully. Incidentally thank you to the reviewer who posted that nice review for it. It made my day :).

And, as always, if you enjoy my work I hope you'll review and recommend it. And thank you again for all your support over the years. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my work with you, and always glad when you enjoy reading it. I certainly enjoy writing it:).

NT

P.S. I'm removing the tale "For the Fallen" from this collection for the time being. I don't think it's fair to the readers to spoil Honor the way it does, and as well I don't think my writing for it does the story justice. It'll go in my archives, and if I ever finish Honor you'll see it then, in its improved form.

Ulduar

Part Two

Nova felt like an insect as he slipped through those colossal doors. Even barely ajar the opening was almost ten feet across, and it served as an unpleasant reminder that not only were titans immensely powerful, but physically they could also squash him like a bug.

Another team of dwarves at Uldaman had encountered had encountered a mere giant, cousin to the titans, and she'd still nearly wiped out the group. If that ramshackle dump boasted one Watcher, how many would a facility like this hold?

The sheer size of the place continued with stairs leading down to a landing that gave a good overlook on the outside of the Ulduar facility. The landing was colossal by any standards, to the point that he could imagine giants being dwarfed by its dimensions, and the stairs leading down to the main staging area alone were the length of a football field, each step a drop of four or so feet. On the landing ranks of war machines lined the righthand side of the platform, surrounded by mechanics that looked like ants working on toy siege tanks and demolishers, swallowed up by the endless expanse of snow-swept cobblestones.

Speaking of dwarfed . . .

On the left end of the staging area more ants gathered in ranks, ready to storm the heavy fortifications ahead. Like the staging area, the ranks stretched endlessly in front of him. Dozens, hundreds, thousands even.

"It's an army of dwarves!" Anette exclaimed, exiting the immense archway behind him. "Where did they come from? Why aren't they helping with the Lich King? A force this big could make a serious dent in the Scourge ranks."

Nova smiled lazily. "Haven't you figured out by now that there's never just one thing threatening to destroy Azeroth? Wherever they came from they're, here to save us from old gods and titan legacies." Theril and Marbrand and the others will have to look after themselves.

His ward suddenly caught his arm, gasping. "Hiezal, look!" she said in a strained voice.

Nova followed her gaze. From this height they could see beyond the fortifications to the massive terraces that formed the outside of the complex, some connected by bridges or more colossal stairs. The size of them dwarved even the landing below in their dimensions, and everywhere he looked dark shapes glowing with lines of silvery blue light swarmed. The numbers of them made the army on the landing look pitiful.

"False gods of any world," he hissed. "They don't mean to let us even get in the complex."

Anette glanced over at him, smiling impishly. "So we'll just do the same thing you did in Uldaman: fight our way to the door and seal it behind us."

"Yeah," Nova said dubiously. "You realize we were trapped in there for almost two weeks waiting for Ironforge to send help breaking us out."

His ward shrugged, one shoulder slipping out of the wide collar of her shirt in a way that looked uncomfortable in this chill. Sure enough, barely a quarter of an inch below where the shirt's collar dipped down a little bump poked out. Nova looked away. "I bet when we kill the old god all the iron dwarves and iron vrykul will go away."

Nova snorted in disbelief, but she ignored him and skipped her way over to the stairs. The dwarves had installed a sturdy iron rail down one side of the immense stairway, the runner for a lift mechanism they'd used to get all the equipment down. The tiny half-elf hopped up and straddled it, getting ready to slide down, and glanced over at him. "Coming?"

Just the thought made Nova cringe. "You go ahead," he said with a wave.

"Oh come on, Hiezal, don't be a spoilsport."

"No, really. Boys lose enthusiasm for sliding down banisters at around the age eleven or twelve."

Anette frowned in confusion, then her eyes widened. "Oh! I guess any activity that involves moving fast with your entire weight pressing your balls into a hard surface isn't fun."

Nova snapped his fingers. "Exactly."

The tiny half-elf giggled. "On the other hand girls never get bored of riding something hard between their legs."

That statement was met with arched eyebrows. "That gives me a whole new insight on the way you used to ride down the spiral banister in the entry room forty or fifty times, then finally collapse at the bottom flushed and squirming."

"Oh Hiezal, you always knew exactly what I was doing. You can see suggestion and innuendo a mile away."

Nova smirked. "Well forgive me if I was polite enough to look away from blatant masturbation in your mother's entryway."

Anette winced. "Speaking of innuendo. And about my mother too! You're a very bad man, and this time I don't think it's funny."

"You would if it had been any entryway but your mother's I'd suggested you were masturbating."

"There you go again!" Anette turned and shoved hard off the rail, sliding down with alarming speed. As she went her small, high voice carried back to him. "You know I don't like you talking about her!"

Nova sighed. She'd probably make him pay for that, like she always did when he brought Saire up. But at the moment his bigger concern was getting down the stairs. For a moment he looked longingly at the rail, remembering uncomfortably the last time he'd tried to slide down one, then brightened. Pulling his belt free, he tucked all the various pouches and weapon sheathes into his backpack, then rubbed weapon oil along its middle to lubricate it. Flipping it up over the rail, he pulled himself tight and cinched it around his waist, then pressed his boots and bracers up against the sides of the rail, both for balance and to use as brakes if he ended up going to fast.

Taking a deep breath, he shoved off.

Anette glanced up at him as he slammed into the lift at the bottom with a bone-jarring crunch, eyebrows raised, but didn't offer any help. As he struggled to extricate himself from his smoking belt she continued her conversation with two gnomes dressed in spellcasting robes. He thought he heard Archmage Perival Manaspark's name mentioned a few times.

Finally he dropped, managing to land lightly in spite of the awkward position, and after a bit of stretching and groaning made his way over to them. "How'd you stop at the bottom without breaking into a dozen pieces?" he demanded.

She smirked. "Ice block."

Figures. "I thought I saw a dent in the lift." He turned to the gnomes and bowed low. "Pleased to meet you."

"Aye? An' should I be pleased ta meet ye?"

He straightened to see an unusually large and strong dwarf with a fiery red beard in two braids down to his knees approaching. By the adventuring leathers the dwarf wore Nova assumed he was facing the leader of this expedition. At a glare from the dwarf the two gnomes saluted hastily and hurried over to where the army was gathering.

That left them alone with the dwarf, the myth, the legend. "Brann Bronzebeard, at yer service," the dwarf said, holding out his hand.

Nova was only too happy to shake it enthusiastically. Now here was a treasure hunter who despoiled civilizations: nothing small scale for him. "Hiezal Nova and my ward Anette, reporting to your service on behalf of the Sunreavers."

The dwarf looked at him, tiny close set eyes becoming even tinier and more close set. "Nova? I recognize tha' name."

Nova shrugged, not even trying to hide his sudden surge of uneasiness. "Not surprising. I'm very renowned."

"Aye, ye are," Bronzebeard said, bushy brows lowering dangerously. "Ye're the one tha' defrauded the King o' Stormwind outta a hundred gold Anduins on the slaying o' Anub'arak."

Nova stiffened, drawing himself up in affront. "I beg your pardon?"

"Ye should."

"Hold on a second, you actually believe it was fraud? I had the monster's eye!"

"Fat lot of good it did when the beastie was tearing apart our champions in the Argent Tournament an' Azjol-Nerub."

Nova snapped his fingers. "Hah! I seem to recall Avelya Netherscream and her party being rewarded for his slaying in Azjol-Nerub, and Lord Fordragon and his champions being given an even more sizable reward for the monster's pelt at the tourney. So everyone else who kills him gets taken at their word, but when I bring physical proof it's suddenly fraud? In fact, since as far as we know I was the first to kill him it really seems like the others who killed his reanimated corpse should be the ones getting tried for fraud."

Anette clapped her hands to her mouth in horror. "Hiezal! Are you trying to get Aunt Avelya arrested?"

"It was just an example," Nova said hastily. He pointed his finger at Bronzebeard. "And anyway it seems like you should be asking him that, since he's the one making an issue of it."

Bronzebeard hunched his shoulders when the girl turned her indignation on him. "Might be it was just rumors," he hazarded reluctantly.

Outrage immediately forgotten, Anette skipped over and kissed his forehead, then slipped her arm through his and leaned against his shoulder. "Well I'm glad that's all settled. You have no idea how often my introduction gets overshadowed by someone accusing Hiezal of something or other."

The dwarf was looking down at her tiny arm trapping his in puzzlement. "An' who are you, then?" he asked. "I din't hear a surname from yer guardian."

"I don't have one!" Anette said happily. She leaned in close to his ear, but her whisper was loud enough for someone ten feet away to hear. "I'm a bastard."

"Who isn't, these days?" Bronzebeard said with a snort. "Not much time fer marryin' when the end o' the world looms every few months regular. Ye still hear folks born outside the bonds o' holy matrimony using the names o' their mamas or papas, whichever one."

"I can't use my mother's name or even more people will try to kill me," Anette said. Nova suppressed the urge to slap his forehead. Why even try to keep her damn secret if she went blabbing it around to everyone? "And I don't know who my father is."

"Why not use yer guardian's name, then?"

Anette giggled and turned smouldering eyes on Nova, her expression wholly inappropriate. "I used to. But having the same last name makes it uncomfortable when I'm trying to get him to fuck me."

Bronzebeard's eyes widened, and he carefully extracted himself from her arm. "Ah, ye know dwarves aren't really too comfortable abou' all that. A hunnerd years ago we din't even like to acknowledge female dwarves existed!"

Anette clapped her hands to her cheeks, going scarlet in (Nova was certain) affected mortification. "I'm so sorry, Uncle Brann! You know I'd never want to make you uncomfortable. Pretend I didn't say anything."

"Mebbe we should pretend you weren't here altogether," Bronzebeard said, turning to glare at Nova. "I'm no expert on human children, elf, and especially not halfbreeds, but this girl looks no older than ten. Why's she here?"

Indignant, Anette opened her mouth to respond, but Nova beat her to it. "She's actually twenty. If you're not an expert on half-elves then don't pretend to know how they age. She's been fighting on the front lines for half a decade."

Well that last bit was true enough, even if he'd added nearly a half decade to her age as well. He'd found lying and making her seem older quelled most arguments about her presence on dangerous ventures, even if she did look ten and acted five and nobody wanted to see her put in danger. Especially since they didn't think her tiny frame could handle more than a love tap.

Of course speaking of love taps, lying to make her seem older came with its own hassles since Anette used it as an excuse to act inappropriately around him in public and push even harder for him to be her lover.

Bronzebeard opened his mouth to object, and Nova continued hurriedly. "Besides, even if she was just a child, which she isn't, her magical acumen has no need of physical strength or maturity. Like I said, she's killed some nasty adversaries at my side."

The fiery-haired dwarf paused a moment, then threw up his hands. "Bah! Old enough ta breed, old enough ta bleed, as I've heard it said. If she wants ta put her neck on the line who'm I ta stop her? The Makers know we could use more mages."

"Actually," Anette chirped, "I think the saying goes "Old enough to bleed, old enough to breed. Which is a sentiment I heartily agree with." She said that last with a solid dig at Nova's side, hard enough to make him grunt.

"Whatever," Bronzebeard turned away, motioning for them to follow. "Ye'll be with the contingent out o' Dalaran, o'er there on the south side of the mobilization."

"Actually," Nova said. "Our talents are more suited to being rogue agents on the field, free to do our own thing."

The dwarf turned a glare that was becoming all too familiar on him. "I don't like rogue agents on my battlefield."

"You'll like us," Nova promised.

Bronzebeard threw up his hands. "Bah! I guess I got good help from rogue agents in the Halls o' Stone, come to that. They pulled their own in a hairy situation." He waved irritably. "Just don't get in anyone's way and kill a dozen o' these iron bastards for me, and yer free to do what ye like."

"My thanks." Taking the offer literally, Nova accompanied Bronzebeard as he made his way to the army of dwarves, Anette skipping ahead to walk at the dwarf's side. Only as they got closer Nova realized that they weren't actually dwarves, but earthen. Thousands of them. Just as they were passing the first ranks of the stone creatures Nova caught up to Bronzebeard and leaned forward-and down-conspiratorially. "So, ah, what's the story with the army of earthen?"

The dwarf threw his hands up in exasperation. "Fer the last time, all ye fools asking the same durned question, these ain't dwarves, they're-" he abruptly cut off, scratching at his beard. "Hold on a tick, elf. Do ye actually recognize these as earthen?"

"What kind of idiot wouldn't?" Nova asked. "It's pretty obvious."

The dwarf scratched more furiously at his beard, staring down the motionless ranks of earthen. "First time any non-dwarf ever has."

"I'm more interested in where they came from than what they are anyway." Nova paused. "Or, for that matter, why you're hiding an army up here when our allies are assaulting the Lich King's dread citadel to the southwest right now with 50/50 odds of success."

"Bah!" Bronzebeard said, turning back to his army with an irritated wave. "Magni's sent enough o' our people north to fulfill the treaty ta the Alliance. But for all Fordragon and Fordring and Hellscream and Mograine and the rest talk o' solidarity in the name of saving Azeroth, ye don't see them sending help our way when an old god is threatening to rip free from Ulduar and put Azeroth back under its brutal reign. Luckily who needs allies when ye got the Forge o' Wills right outside in the Halls o' Stone and can make batch after batch o' warriors to fight beside ye."

Nova jumped slightly when Anette made a shrill noise and stopped dead, tiny fists on her hips. When they turned to her in confusion she leaned forward to get in Bronzebeard's face. Amusingly enough his half-elf ward stood the same height as the dwarf, although much smaller in every other dimension. "Hold on a tick! Are you saying you've been creating thousands of sentient creatures and exploiting them as cannon fodder?"

Bronzebeard stared at her, flabbergasted. "What're ye-"

She pointed an accusing finger at the nearest earthen. "When was this guy made, a week ago? He's practically a baby! A big, stony, full grown baby! You're creating intelligent earthen and forcing them to fight and die right after they're born and before they've even lived, and they don't even understand enough of the world to realize what you're doing to them. You're playing god!"

The dwarf's surprise was giving way to his own indignation. "We've found earthen thousands o' years old here, our cousins ta the north, an' they've supported this plan from the first. As have the mechagnomes!"

"Oh, so just because big brother says it's okay to exploit these new earthen that's fine?" Anette waved a finger in front of the dwarf's ruddy, bulbous nose. "Did you even ask them? Or when they were hot out of the forge or whatever did you just say "Hey cousin, welcome to the world o' the living. It's an amazing place out there with all kinds o' things to learn. Now take this axe and go die on the front line." She managed a pretty decent dwarvish accent.

Bronzebeard turned an irritated look at Nova, who just shrugged. Anette was a big girl, she could make her own decisions when it came to pissing off the brother of the king of Ironforge and getting punched in the face.

"Ye're judging us hasty, lass," he said gravely. "Ye may be learned as a mage, but ye're a wee little thing in years."

"So a child can't know right from wrong?" Anette demanded.

The dwarf jerked his head towards the earthen. "Ye don't know enough, either o' my people or o' the earthen, or o' this particular situation, ta say what's right and wrong. We told every single one o' the earthen coming off the cooling racks what was going on here. We told 'em who we were, who they were, and what the danger was. And aye, I made 'em just ta fight at my side. But I don't make 'em fight. So far none o' them have heard what was needed and refused, but if one did ye know I would let him leave, no shaming or judgment."

Anette stomped over and poked the nearest earthen in the arm. Surprised, he turned to look at her curiously, probably seeing a half-elf girl for the first time. "Hi," she said.

"Hello." The stone creature's voice was curiously flat and nearly hollow sounding.

"Do you want to die?" The earthen glanced towards Bronzebeard, then jerked slightly in increased surprise when Anette took his cheeks in her tiny hands and turned his eyes to meet hers. "I'm not asking him, I'm asking you."

"To cease functioning would impair my ability to do the work I've been assigned. I must continue functioning."

"Do you want to do the work you've been assigned?"

He stared at her blankly. "I have been assigned vital tasks. They must be done or catastrophe will occur. It follows that I want to do them."

"What if-"

Nova interrupted his ward, gently prying her hands free of the hapless earthen and pulling her aside. "Just what are you hoping to accomplish here?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him in surprise, huge dark eyes looking almost wounded. "They're being created to die!"

"They're being created to fight," he corrected. "And they don't seem to mind. Meanwhile all the other races of Azeroth have come to fight the Lich King's armies and destroy the Frozen Throne. Males and females who've lived an eternity compared to the flash in the pan these earthen have experienced, who at any time could die. Do you think most of them understand the situation any better than these earthen here do? When you present it in its simplest form, it boils down to "If you don't fight you'll die. So fight and live". Earthen, human, elf, orc. We fight to live, or we die. What right do you have to confuse the earthen on such a simple matter? If anything it's you who's preying on their inexperience with a complexity they're not yet ready to deal with."

Anette opened her mouth, then shut it. She glanced over at Bronzebeard, who looked away almost guiltily. "It's not right," she insisted.

"Neither is an old god breaking free and enslaving or killing us all," Nova said, stepping away. "Most things aren't right. We have to live in an imperfect world."

Shoulders slumped, the tiny girl turned away. "Sorry," she muttered over her shoulder to the earthen.

When the earthen stepped forward to put a hand on her shoulder she went stiff with surprise and faced him slowly. The stone creature looked at her with eyes that glowed blue from deep within. "You think my inexperience makes me stupid," he said in the same flat tone. That lack of emotion was eerie. "But I understand all I need. The forge that birthed me was used to create abominations. Dwarves of iron and saronite that served Loken, traitor to the Makers, before his execution. They now serve Yogg-Saron. They have taken over the Makers' works. They seek to free the Makers' ancient enemy and undo the Makers' creation. Yogg-Saron and the other Old Gods created the Curse of Flesh. I am immune to that curse, but if they are freed they may create other curses I am not immune to."

The earthen glanced over at Bronzebeard. "Brann the Bronze-Bearded is my ally, and I understand the history of our dwarf cousins from Uldaman. I celebrate their divergence. But I am not dwarf. I am earthen. I will stay earthen. Yogg-Saron and the iron dwarves and iron vrykul who serve him are my enemies, and I will not live unless I chase them from the place of my inheritance and spend my days there serving the Makers. I do not understand your talk of exploiting earthen. You, and your friend of the golden hair, and Brann, and all the others I've met since my forging, do not ask earthen to fight for you. It is earthen who ask you to fight for us, for our home. We all fight for each other. And we are grateful."

Anette patted his hand, then surged forward to throw her arms around the solid figure and kiss him on his stony mouth. "That's all I needed to hear," she chirped, turning to smile at Bronzebeard. Nova could've sworn her eyes glistened slightly with tears. "You should've just told me that from the beginning."

Bronzebeard threw his hands up again. "Bah! Ye've wasted enough o' me time, elves. Go find something ta do or stay outta sight."

Anette giggled as the dwarf stalked away. "We will!" she called. "Staying out of sight is what we do best." With no response forthcoming she made her way over to the north side of the landing, where a high stone fence blocked their view of the terrace down below. With some effort she managed to hop on top of it and stood staring down at the swarm of iron constructs below. With considerably less effort Nova vaulted up alongside her and stood with his hand resting on her head.

For a while they stood looking out at the battlefield arrayed before them, with the enemy just waiting for them to break free from their strong position on the landing and try to charge Ulduar's defenses. Then, as if she found the sight too daunting, Anette abruptly turned to stare at their own assembling army instead.

Nova turned to join her, and together they watched the earthen lining up in ranks at the edge of the landing, just in front of the ramp leading down, with tanks and other dwarven and gnomish constructs moving into place beside them like beetles among ants. The Alliance, Horde, and neutral volunteers and auxiliaries formed ranks at the back, to Nova's eye looking somewhat cowardly and opportunistic for taking the safest position and leaving the earthen to face the brunt of the conflict.

Of course he was one to talk, considering he didn't intend to fight at all, and only kill if he could do it without putting himself or his maiden sweet in danger.

"Listen, Hiezal," Anette started. Nova bit back a groan. Every time. "I know you're a badass who's been everywhere and done everything, and you've fought in a thousand battles and killed a million people and while you're fighting you also despoil pliant virgins and slay dragons for their hoard. But personally I'm really not pleased to be in the middle of what's looking like a major battle. You know we're not suited for this kind of thing."

"Speak for yourself," Nova shot back. "Although you might be surprised how suited you are for it."

She pouted. "I don't care. I don't care if I'm the person most suited for battle on Azeroth. Battles don't suit me."

"You're looking at this all wrong." Nova planted a heavy arm across her shoulders and turned her slightly to look past the landing to the iron dwarves and iron vrykul lining up below with their own machines. "Look out there and tell me what you see."

Anette barely looked at it for a moment before turning huge eyes on him. "I see two armies getting ready to blow each other to bits," she said flatly.

Nova tsked. "I see a playground suited for those of our particular talents." He pointed at the nearest tank. "What's that?"

"That would be a bomb on treads that's sure to draw enemy fire."

Nova shook his head. "Nope. Cover." He pointed at a goblin shredder. "And that?"

"That would be a shredder, which aside from being even more likely to blow up on its own will also trample you or accidentally hack you to shreds with its arms."

"Nope. Cover." He pointed at the nearest ranks of earthen. "And those?"

Anette hissed and planted a hard fist in his ribs. "Hiezal Nova, if you call those "cover" like they're so many living shields I'm going to shove my entire mana pool down your throat in the form of raw energy."

"Don't be absurd," Nova said. "They're not cover, they're allies. Which means they'll cover us in battle. Thousands of earthen have got our backs."

Anette was staring at the nearest tank thoughtfully. "So you're saying we shouldn't look at this like getting caught between two fists punching each other, we should look at it more like an urban invasion scenario with plenty of ambush spots."

Nova indulgently mussed her hair. "You should think of it like that. I've thought of it like that all along."

His ward grinned at him. "Urban invasion. I like that. I'm good at that."

He knew it well. And where she really shone in an urban invasion was that she had about as much respect for the Gilnean convention's mandate on looting as he did.

After a while Anette sat down on the wall with her legs hanging over and pulled some food out of her pack. "Want some nuts and jerky?"

"Only if you conjure up some sweet rolls to go with them." That was one nice thing about traveling with a mage: conjured food may not actually do you any good, but it sure as hell tasted good.

After a brief meal they dropped off the wall to settle in its shadow and took a nap. For once Nova didn't mind Anette obstinately snuggling up against him in the most uncomfortable of ways, since it was cold as balls on this landing.

He woke up to Bronzebeard's voice booming across the landing, and saw that Anette had already pulled herself back up onto the wall. He joined her, and saw that the fiery-bearded dwarf was standing at the head of the army, some sort of gnomish noise amplification device held to his face. As was consistent with gnomish technology the results were varied, and sometimes his voice went up several octaves in pitch for no reason, or deafening static crackled across the landing, making everyone but the earthen clap their hands over their ears.

"All right, laddies! We're ready ta bring this fight ta the iron constructs and face the perils of Ulduar. And none too soon, since all Northrend is starting to feel the taint of Yogg-Saron's influence. The Old God is on the verge of breaking free, and the time is now." Bronzebeard turned and pointed overhead to the shimmering energy dome above them. "First off, the entrance ta Ulduar is at the base of a mountain cliff across the terrace from our position. The energy dome that prevents entry into the terrace from the sky also forms a vertical wall directly in front o' the entrance, barring entry ta the facility."

At his side Anette cursed, a surprisingly salty one. "That's a good way to get full use out of an impenetrable dome," she muttered.

Bronzebeard was already continuing. "Unless we want ta try tunneling through an entire mountain o' solid rock, not impossible but we definitely dinnae have time for it, we'll have ta take down the dome. That involves four titan obelisks spaced evenly across the terrace, heavily guarded by titan weapon emplacements, iron dwarves and iron vrykul, and advanced war vehicles. In order ta break down the dome we must destroy these obelisks, then punch our way through the other defenses ta Ulduar's entrance."

The dwarf turned back to the army and panned his eyes across it. "That involves two possible choices. Either we go as a single force ta each individual obelisk, giving our enemy time ta figure out what we're doing an' find a way ta stop us, or we split our forces even more against an enemy that overwhelmingly outnumbers us and try ta destroy all four obelisks at once."

"Don't be splitting up," Nova muttered. "Don't be splitting up, don't be splitting up, don't be splitting up, don't-"

"We've decided we have no option but ta split our forces and plan four simultaneous assaults."

"Fuck!"

Bronzebeard pointed. "We'll split our forces like this: The Alliance forces will take the northeast obelisk, the Horde forces will take the northwest obelisk, the neutral forces will take the southeast obelisk, an' the Explorer's League will will take the southwest obelisk. The earthen forces and war machines will be split ta make all four forces even."

The dwarf finally turned directly around and and pointed at the fortifications the iron constructs had hastily erected directly across from the bottom of the stairs. "We'll punch through that as a single unit, then split from there. I've already hashed the plan out with your captains and sub-captains, so all that's left is ta destroy these vile iron abominations and force our way into Ulduar." Bronzebeard paused solemnly for a moment, then raised a fist over his head. "Friends, for Azeroth!"

The assembled force took up the cry. Anette did too, jumping up and down happily, while Nova just watched it all with amusement.

He appreciated the value of morale building speeches for the rank and file, but they all rang a bit hollow to him, where they didn't outright stink of hypocrisy. They all tended to boil down to "Go out and get yourself killed for the greater good while I stay back where it's safe and lead."

Anette turned to him, bouncing up and down slightly. "So, Hiezal? Who are we going with? The Horde?"

"False gods no," Hiezal said, laughing. "I was thinking the Explorer's League. Their forces will be almost entirely made up of earthen, and I like the cut of their jib."

The tiny half-elf frowned. "You like the cut of their jib? They're hunks of stone with no interest other than carrying out the purposes they were created for."

"Exactly. Those are just the kind of allies you want." Nova lightly shoved her off the wall, ignoring her squawk as she flailed to land correctly, and hopped off after her. "Let's go."

Bronzebeard scowled when he saw them approaching where the Explorer's League was forming ranks. As he'd predicted, aside from a few dozen dwarves and gnomish technicians, with a representative handful of the other races of Azeroth, Bronzebeard's army was almost entirely made up of earthen. "You again? Whadda ye want?"

"I was hoping we could fight alongside your group."

Bronzebeard snorted. "Ye were, were ye? Why?"

"I'm a member of the Explorer's League," Nova said, pulling out his badge. Like any good EL badge should be it was stained, torn, and faded from hard use. That was all from weeks underground in Uldaman, but Bronzebeard didn't need to know that.

The dwarf scowled at it, then at him. "Ye didn't steal that, did ye?"

"Ask Gretel Delver."

Bronzebeard snorted. "Bah! I'll let the troops know not ta stick ye in the gut if they see ye."

As he stomped away Anette sidled up closer to him, speaking low under her breath. "Is he a sheep? Why does he keep saying baa?"

Nova grinned and tickled her side. "Maybe someday he wants to be just like ewe."

"Baa!" Anette said in a fairly good imitation of the fiery-bearded dwarf's gruff bellow, dancing away with a giggle.

. . . . .

The steam tanks and shredders led the way, launching artillery barrages at the squat stone towers that dotted the terrace and the fortifications hastily erected between them. From the towers and the weapon emplacements behind them came return fire, poorly aimed in comparison to the precise dwarven gunners. The iron constructs stayed back, obviously realizing they weren't going to do any good against the war vehicles, and on Azeroth's side the ground forces also kept a safe distance from the explosions.

"Maybe we can just let them do everything," Anette said hopefully at his side.

Nova shook his head. "Once the dwarves destroy the weapon emplacements the iron dwarves and vrykul are going to pour out from behind those fortifications like a flood. We can't afford to let them get to the tanks or they'll find ways to disable them: cutting treads, plugging gun bores, maybe even tipping them over if they get enough working together. As soon as that happens our forces our going to have to move up and establish a line in front of the tanks. They'll still be firing over our heads, and likely taking fire as well as we move forward, but there's no other way to do it."

Anette frowned. "That seems really dangerous."

"Welcome to battle." Nova stretched, yawning. "I plan to stay behind the tanks, though. Assuming any enemies get back to us we can be the last line of defense for the vehicles."

His ward seemed to like that idea. "Somebody's got to do it."

After a few minutes of deafening explosions and things breaking, a few of them the Azeroth war machines but mostly the iron dwarf weapons, the pounding of artillery on the enemy side abruptly quickened in pace, and from the fortifications hundreds and hundreds of iron constructs poured out, their combined metallic roar like a thousand sheets of metal being torturously bent out of shape.

"Looks like our boys are going to be rushing into explosions to defend the tanks," Nova said idly. Tightening a few straps on his pack, he started forward at a leisurely pace as the Explorer's League forces rushed ahead. A few caught the tail end of explosions they couldn't dodge, going down with grating cries, but the earthen were surprisingly sturdy and many came back to their feet, stone cracked and even missing limbs but still moving forward.

It wasn't all one-sided, though. Actually it was more like the opposite of one-sided, since the Azerothian war machines were carving huge swaths through the rushing enemies. The iron constructs proved to be nearly as sturdy as earthen, not quite as hard but much more malleable, so they'd come back from explosions bent out of shape but still mobile. They still left hundreds of corpses in their wake as they clashed with the Azerothians only a few dozen feet from the tanks.

Nova hopped on top of the nearest tank, nodding back at the dirty look the gunner gave him. "I've got your back, friend," he said.

The gnome was already focused on aiming her weapon and picking targets, so he supposed he was okay to stay. He leaned down to help Anette up, and she plopped into his lap as they sat watching the fighting.

The iron constructs kept coming and coming, and in spite of the massive devastation the Azerothian war machines were wreaking on them and the solid resistance they were running into at the front line there seemed to be no end to them. "How many of these things did Loken make?" Anette asked.

The gnome glared back over her shoulder, but her expression softened when she saw Anette's sweet, innocent face looking back. "He's been at it for thousands of years, so who knows?" she said before getting back to her gunning.

Nova was just starting to worry about the way things were going when Bronzebeard's voice boomed over the battlefield, drowning out even the explosions. "The enemy isn't going to stop coming, people! If we're to have any hope of getting into Ulduar we're going to have to advance into the tide! All forces, press forward!"

Nova swore. "Get ready to do some fighting," he said. Anette looked at him with surprise. "An advancing line is much less solid than a stationary one, so it's almost guaranteed the enemy's going to break through. Get ready."

Anette nodded and slipped off the tank as it rumbled forward, disappearing from sight. Nova could've tracked her if he wanted, but he trusted she'd be close by where he could protect her. She knew to wait until the enemy was distracted with him before popping up.

Nova settled into a jog beside the tank, surprised at the turn of speed the giant machine could manage. It was also surprising how accurately the gnome gunner was firing in spite of being in constant motion. The idle thought crossed his mind to wonder if she was into inter-species romance. It might be fun to tug those bubblegum pigtails to a good steady rhythm.

Thanks completely to the hard work of the warriors on the front line, their forward movement took them right past the iron constructs' initial fortifications. Nova helped clear away a bit of junk from the tank's path, just to hurry things along, and ignored the dirty looks the dwarves working with him were giving him. He wasn't a manual laborer, and his precisely honed muscles were geared for grace and speed, not lugging heavy objects. If he ever got these hairy assholes on a dance floor it'd be him giving them dirty looks, not the other way around.

Bronzebeard was just shouting the crackling, distorted order for the groups to split up when a rumbling from all around heralded an attack from all sides. The rearguard behind the tanks fell back, fighting fiercely, but eventually were overwhelmed and separated, the enemy rushing through the gaps directly for him. Nova caught sight of a handful of iron dwarves coming his way, completely unopposed, and sighed as he went flat behind a bit of debris and froze.

The group's path took them close enough to where he was hiding that as the nearest one passed he was able to stick his leg out, tripping it. That turned out to be a horrible idea, because tripping a metal humanoid that weighed hundreds of pounds was surprisingly painful. Cursing and trying not to limp, Nova drove his sword into the fallen iron dwarf's neck, listening to its metallic snarl of rage become a death scream.

That drew the attention of the other iron dwarves, the nearest of which took a clumsy swing at him with a giant maul. Nova darted back, blowing the constructs a raspberry, and broke into a sprint for the cover of the tank with the others hot on his tail.

Reaching the side of the tank he darted around it and immediately pivoted, kicking aside the iron dwarf's maul as it followed and slamming the point of his blade into the mouth that opened in surprise. The construct's hollow metallic death scream was so ludicrously incongruous with his silly expression that he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Then two more iron dwarves followed the first, one dual wielding hammers and the other a massive battleaxe. He didn't know how emotion worked with old god inspired fallen Watcher constructed metal creatures, but these two looked pretty pissed off that he was laughing at their companion's death.

"Shit."

Nova was about to kick his fighting up a notch to deal with these two new enemies when frost abruptly pulsed across the ground in a ring, rooting the two constructs where they stood but passing him by harmlessly. Anette rolled out from beneath the tank, ducking beneath the battleaxe's swing, and planted her dagger in the junction of the iron dwarf's left shoulder, fouling up the operation of that arm. The creature roared and awkwardly swung the weapon one-handed, but Anette simply danced away out of range, both hands outstretched to send a stream of arcane missiles at the other dwarf as it futilely tried to break free. The missiles found their own targets at the weak points on the construct's joints, making its continued thrashing more stilted and jerky.

"Want me to KS?" Nova called.

His ward shot him an incredulous glance. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

That was probably a yes. Nova sauntered up, ducked a swing of that ridiculous battleaxe, and before the construct could start a backswing hacked its arm off at the elbow. He reset his own swing into a sideways slash that didn't quite lop off the iron dwarf's head, but came close enough that the construct's death scream rang out and it slumped backwards, feet still rooted to the ground.

About that time the other one broke free and came at him, hammers swinging.

"Want me to KS?" Anette called mockingly. Nova glanced over his shoulder to see her charging up an arcane blast.

"Okay fine, terrible question to ask in the middle of a battle," Nova shouted back, dancing away from the swinging hammers and parrying where he could.

A moment later the side of the iron dwarf's head dented in from the concussive force of Anette's spell. It didn't seem to do anything aside from knock it off balance, but that was all Nova needed to shove aside one hammer with his sword and lunge, planting his dagger into the construct's glowing eye.

He was hoping for a kill, but all it seemed to do was damage the construct's left optics and piss it off even more. Nova narrowly dodged a hammer coming for his head, and grunted slightly as the other hammer lovingly brushed his ribs.

They probably weren't broken.

About that time a second arcane blast hit on the iron dwarf's chest, throwing it backwards. Nova charged it with his shoulder, knocking it to the ground, and using both hands drove his sword into the construct's mouth like he'd done to its friend. A hollow metallic scream rang out and his enemy went still beneath him.

Nova looked up to find Anette encased in a block of ice as three more iron dwarves hacked at her futilely. Luckily she'd distracted them while he was occupied with this one. She could only survive in that ice for a few seconds, but before Nova could intervene a squad of earthen from the front lines swept over the area and hacked the iron dwarves apart, leaving them, for the moment, in a safe spot.

He ambled over as she dropped to the ground, gasping at the cold and using flame flickering up and down her skin to nullify some of the iceblock's effects. "Don't you think you should find a spell in your arsenal that's effective against them?"

She shot him a dirty look. "We shouldn't even be here."

"And your sneak attacks don't work so good with those little daggers."

"If you could give me five seconds I could charge a pyroblast."

"No need. Just keep freezing them like that and we'll cut a swath through them." Nova watched as the tank he'd been hiding behind abruptly belched out a gout of smoke, then rolled ponderously away. "Speaking of tanks, you ever stop to consider that hiding under one isn't the best idea?"

"I was hanging from the underside in case it moved." Anette brushed off the shoulder of her cloak, which was smudged with oil. "I should've just stayed under there the entire battle," she muttered.

Before Nova could snap out a witty response to that an uptick in the deafening roar of battle around them turned him in time to see the line of earthen holding back the line of iron dwarves up ahead buckle, and constructs poured through it and began shoving and hacking desperately to widen the breach for their metallic friends coming behind.

Shit. He pointed. "Speaking of freezing your enemies, that seems like a good place for it."

Anette sighed, full lips forming a moue. "Every time I think you might just want me for my body, I find out you only want me for my magic." Dark eyes abruptly lighting up to a whitish blue, she stalked directly towards the knot of charging iron dwarves and raised her hands. Frost wreathed around them, building quickly.

Nova couldn't help it, he looked at her ass as she went. She was like the opposite of Saire in every way, not the least of which being that she wasn't a rotten bitch.

With a sigh of his own he followed, pulling out some smoke bombs to cover the mess his ward was almost certainly about to find herself in.

Above the noise of the battle he heard Bronzebeard's crackly voice. "All groups, break away now! Get to your obelisks as fast as you can whatever the costs!"

Now that was horrible advice. What, where they supposed to sprint for the things and hope to whatever false gods were out there that they weren't cut down along the way? Who gave that idiot the bullhorn?

His attention was drawn back to the breach, which had grown to more than twenty feet wide, with iron dwarves and their giant lumbering vrykul friends pouring through it in a wave. Even as he watched the air over the breach began to swirl and mist, then abruptly shards of ice the size of his fingers and sharp as nails began pelting the area of the breach. The iron constructs slowed in the intense cold, and many were rooted to the ground as it froze around them. Nova was just about to congratulate Anette for plugging the hole when the spell abruptly stopped.

He glanced at his ward with a frown. It looked as if the blizzard spell she'd used was low rank, mostly for slowing and rooting the enemy, and although her mana pools were relatively small she should've been able to maintain the spell for longer than that.

Except she wasn't out of juice, she'd switched gears. He watched as flames burst from her eyes and hands, and she shouted the words as she raised her arms to the sky over the breach. This certainly wasn't a low ranking spell, and was probably using up most of her reserves.

With combined surprising speed the flames she called from the sky struck down in the middle of the frozen constructs, an inferno washing over them, and Nova watched the effects with a slack jaw.

He'd seen Lokiv do something like this up in Northrend, not against an enemy but against an overhanging cliff to weaken it so it would fall on the Scourge they were ambushing. But this was far, far more dramatic. When the superheated air washed over the frozen iron constructs they shattered in its wake with tortured metallic screeches, pieces flying in all directions like shrapnel to cut down their friends. In one fell swoop the breach wasn't simply plugged but completely cleared, and dazed earthen wasted no time in rushing into it to restore the line.

Nova turned and stared at his ward with a mixture of disbelief, admiration, and not a little arousal. She smirked back at him. "Is that effective enough for you?"

. . . . .

What seemed like hours later the Explorer's League group had managed to fight their way across the terrace to the foot of a wide ramp that led up to the southwest obelisk they were aiming for. Unfortunately the ramp was completely clogged with enemies and their forward progress had bogged down.

Not that the fighting hadn't been brutal up to this point. With a quarter the forces, going separate directions from their friends, it had been impossible to avoid getting surrounded by iron constructs and attacked from all sides. There seemed to be no end to the things, and as desperately as they fought their group was bunching up more and more as they were pushed back.

Their only advantage was the tanks, shredders, and demolishers. The machines' big weapons tore swaths through the ranks of iron dwarves and vrykul back behind their front line, easing the pressure long enough for the defenders to push them back right into another volley of explosive shells. It was working well to keep them at bay for the moment, but unfortunately the ramp had a ceiling that acted as a bridge over it, hanging low enough that their machines could barely pass underneath. Assuming they got that far. At the moment the iron constructs were hiding high enough up the ramp that the ceiling blocked any shells aimed their way, and only came out to push back attempts to break up the ramp.

Wiping at his brow, Nova slipped back underneath his familiar tank with his bubblegum-haired lover perched on top. No worry about being crushed when the tank moved at this point, since its engines hadn't even been on for more than five minutes.

A moment later Anette ducked under with him, looking pooped. After her impressive display at the breach she hadn't had the reserves to do the area of effect combo again. For a while she'd been employing single target frostbolts at vital areas like the head, then following up with a fire blast, to fairly good effect, but she'd only been able to do that for iron dwarves or vrykul that were directly attacking her.

"Mana gem?" Nova asked.

She shook her head wearily. "Consumed it ten minutes ago."

"Well you're the mistress of the arcane. Why don't you evocate?"

She gave a low laugh. "I have trouble concentrating enough to do it at the best of times. In this hell?" As if to counterpoint her statement the tank above and around them bucked with a deafening roar as its big gun fired.

Nova was about to answer when two huge boots and leather-clad pants appeared beside the tank, and someone rapped sharply on the metal. He poked his head out to see Brann Bronzebeard looking down at him.

"All right, elf?" he asked.

"I think I've got a broken rib."

"I was talking ta her," Bronzebeard said, jerking a thumb to where Anette slumped wearily against the treads.

Nova shook his head. "She's tapped out."

The dwarf scowled at him and dropped to his knees beside Anette, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I saw what ye did at the breach, lass. Some fine thinking, and even finer castin'. Ye got another in ye?"

Anette looked up at him with huge, drooping eyes. "What did you have in mind?"

Bronzebeard shrugged uncomfortably. "We're light on mages, lass. The Explorer's League always relied on engineering. But we've got a few gnomes who might could summon up some frost magic if ye could lead them in it."

Anette shook her head wearily. "Hiezal's right, I'm tapped out. Anyway the cold is the easy part. In this frigid place dropping their temperature a bit more doesn't take much, but you still need intense heat to shatter them."

Bronzebeard chuckled. "I think I've got ye covered, lass." He held out his hand for her. "C'mere, I wanna show ye somethin'."

Anette took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet, and slumped wearily against him let him guide her through the small cleared space in the center of the ring of defenders to a smaller vehicle topped by two liquid tanks nearby.

Nova frowned. "I thought this was the fuel car. I haven't seen it do anything."

"It is and it isn't. We got it rigged with a weapon that uses fuel." The dwarf shook his head, pointing to two swivel turrets that were too bendy to shoot anything besides liquid or gas. "Flamethrower," he said. "Not much use against the damn iron constructs, we figured pretty fast. They just walk out o' the stream o' it, and if we keep aiming at 'em they can stay in it for a good twenty seconds before they even start melting."

Anette had perked up a little. "I get it. If me and the mages can get to the ramp the idiots are all crammed in there like fish in a barrel."

"Aye, lass," Bronzebeard said, a tired grin peeking around his fiery whiskers. "It may be our only shot. The only question is, do ye have it in ye?"

Anette frowned. "I'm going to need earplugs."

Five minutes later Anette stopped glowing and stumbled to her feet, helped by the two gnome mages they'd met on the landing. Nova had never studied magic, but he'd been around mages most of his life and knew that evocation partially replenished mana reserves at the cost of being extremely mentally and physically taxing. Not so much because it was a tradeoff but because actively drawing arcane energy from the nether like that required intense concentration, and it was impossible to concentrate that hard without becoming physically tense. Keep that up for five minutes and no wonder it left you drained.

Nova caught her shoulder and did his best to support her weight. "How you feeling?"

"Like my brain's been scrambled on a lemon squeezer." His ward abruptly twisted, throwing her arms around his neck and trying to pull herself up to his face. She wasn't strong enough, but her dead weight pulled him down until her lips could brush his cheek. "I love you," she whispered.

Nova felt a pang in his heart so intense it was almost physically agonizing, and he pulled her tightly to him and kissed her cheek back. "Maiden sweet, my dear Anette, for you I'd slay a wight."

She giggled. "How about some iron dwarves instead?"

Nova straightened and faced Bronzebeard, who'd made his way over as soon as he saw the glow around the tiny half-elf disappear. "I think we're ready."

Nodding, the dwarf roared out orders, and with surprising suddenness their defensive formation caved on three sides and bulged towards the southwest, forming a wedge with the tanks in the rear, weapons pounding away at the enemies coming in behind.

Nova handed Anette off to the two gnomes and shoved through the press until he reached the side of the wedge, where the press wasn't so great and he'd have room to maneuver. He drew his sword and dagger and popped out from behind an earthen, taking out its enemy's optics with two quick thrusts. As the creature roared and flailed the earthen pounded it in the head with a steel warhammer, caving its face in, and it fell back into its companions.

Nova chased it back, taking out the optics of those ones as well, and catching on his earthen companion hurried to dispatch the blinded enemies.

Anything he could do to get Anette to the ramp. Like so many battles he'd fought beside Saire, the best way he could help her wasn't to fight beside her at all, but to go where he could do the most good.

He kept fighting his way out and out until finally he was at the fringes of the confrontation. Then, employing the skills he'd honed from decades of practice, he made himself as unobtrusive as possible and faded from the site of the battle. Hundreds of iron dwarves and vrykul were still coming from three directions, every way but from the wall to the south that marked the edge of the plateau they were fighting to get up to with its critical obelisk. But by avoiding being where they were looking and keeping his movement slow and steady, not to mention going still and staying still when necessary, he was able to make his way to the wall.

Sheathing his weapons, he started to climb.

The wall was rough, carved with geometric patterns and odd wavy designs like all titan constructs seemed to be. It made it possible find handholds and footholds, although the slickness of the smooth stone led to some hairy moments. Luckily he was in peak physical shape and had stamina for days.

His cloak nearly matched the dark color of the stone, and he doubted many enemy eyes would be on him with the Explorer's League making their break for the ramp. Still, he kept his movements slow and gradual, nearly sliding up the stone in a constant movement with no jerking or pausing. The lip near the top gave him a frightening few moments, since it stuck out three feet beyond the wall and was as slick as the rest. But after a few frantic seconds of scrabbling he discovered more grooved designs farther back from the lip, and reaching up and over carefully grabbed them and pulled himself up.

The plateau was almost empty. Finally, finally, he'd found a place where the iron vrykul and dwarves weren't swarming by the thousands.

Directly in the center of the plateau the obelisk jutted into the sky, glowing with swirling blue energy that made a vortex up to the dome. In front of it a storm giant and a handful of iron vrykul stood, while iron dwarves rushed to and from him, some taking orders to the constructs choking the ramp, others disappearing through bolt holes and doors in the plateau that likely led down to the battlefield below.

Nova drew his lips back in a feral smile. A leader. He liked leaders.

A flicker only a few feet to his right caught his eye, and he drew his sword and twisted in one motion, lunging for the spot. With extreme force of will he halted his thrust only inches from a large cat of some kind, a panther or nightsaber. Its coat was the exact color of the stone around them, and crouched low to the ground like it was it had crept along almost invisible.

"Friend or foe?" Nova hissed.

The druid flickered slightly as it shifted, far more slowly than Nova had seen from other druids, but without the swirl of magic that usually accompanied the transformation. So this fellow knew what he was about. Moments later a night elf with dark purple skin and hair only slightly lighter, wearing dark gray and green clothes, crouched in front of him, looking displeased. "I didn't mean to attack you."

"Of course not. You were just sneaking up on me for a prank."

The druid blinked at him owlishly. "The sneaking was for them," he whispered, jerking his head toward the storm giant and his attendants. "And I was approaching you to join forces."

After a moment more of hesitation Nova sheathed his weapons. "Hiezal Nova," he said, offering his hand.

The druid straightened to his feet and executed a slight, crisp bow. "Well met, Master Nova. I'm Anasar Starseer. You'll have to excuse me, I've been on hiatus from civilization for a long while. My conversational skills may be a little rough around the edges."

Nova gave him a bemused look. "As opposed to what, Stormwind nobility?"

"In point of fact Darnassian archdruids, most recently."

"Oh." Nova gave him a long look. Starseer was a few feet taller than him, his arms nearly twice as thick. And as an elf he was slender for his height. "Is it true what they say, that you guys develop such big forearms from frequent masturbation?"

The night elf blinked. "Come again?"

"I haven't the first time yet." Nova grinned up at him. "Although if that was an offer..."

Starseer coughed. "You must understand, I wasn't expecting such an, ah, open invitation. I've been on the path set for me by Goldrinn for several hundred years, now, and it has been a solitary one. I'm not quite sure how to-"

"Goldrinn's the wolf Ancient, isn't he?" Nova cut in. "Does that mean you'd prefer it doggy style?"

The night elf coughed uncomfortably. "Maybe we should focus on the matter at hand," he said, pointing at the obelisk. "I came up here hoping to find a way to destroy that thing, or at least do something to help Master Brann and my fellow Explorer's League companions fight their way up here."

"Yeah, same here. Mostly." Nova smiled that same feral smile, figuring that if anyone could appreciate it a druid would. "How do you feel about eliminating enemy leaders on the battlefield?"

. . . . .

Anette's furrowed her brow cutely as she struggled to prepare the deep freeze spell she'd been planning.

She wasn't a frost mage, damnit! Her specialty was arcane, and she was reasonably proud of her talents. But ice was what was called for, and she didn't have the reserves for a blizzard spell. If she could get this matrix stabilized the way it was supposed to be, going completely on memory after only seeing it cast once, it would take far less mana. Blizzard was meant to hurl shards of ice to wound your enemies, with the slowing and occasional rooting a side benefit. Deep freeze was more like shoving someone out into the emptiness of the Great Dark Beyond and watching frost dance across their skin as the sheer intensity of the cold stunned them.

She doubted iron constructs built to withstand Northrend's winters would be stunned for long, if at all, but it would sure as hell cool them off.

"I think this is the best we're going to be able to do, Mistress Anette," Misel Sparkfister said apologetically from where she huddled with the handful of other gnome casters.

Anette glanced over, frowning. "It'll have to do. Just remember that the point is to freeze a wide area, especially at the front. Hit them with your best shot and move on to the next spell." As they nodded she got back to her spell, trying to find a way to make her intense frustration look adorable.

Not long afterwards Uncle Brann appeared at her elbow, pointing. They were almost to the foot of the ramp, and from there she could look up and see the press of iron constructs packing it and holding the attacking earthen and Explorer's League fighters at bay only a few feet in front of her. "Is this close enough?" he asked.

Anette nodded slowly. "We can get the front two-thirds, give or take. The gap in the press they make when they shatter should give your people enough room to mount a good charge and push the rest out."

"Fair enough." He turned and lifted the Gnomish Voice Amplification Prototype Mark III to his lips. Attanat Nimblefingers was its inventor, and not shy bragging about it. Too bad he wasn't as good a mage as he was an engineer. "All right, lads, bring our lady forward!"

Anette motioned to the gnomes, and together they climbed up on the shredder that had been brought forward to give them a higher platform to stand on so they could see what they were doing. Pursing her lips in fetching concentration, Anette began casting the deep freeze spell. She'd start at the right end, as planned, while the others worked their way to meet her in the middle from the left end.

Shards of ice and blasts of cold flew from the gnomes, hitting the iron constructs and slowing them. A few showed alarm at this, as if they'd learned what it meant, but the press was too thick for them to flee or do anything else. Anette let loose her deep freeze spell, and watched with satisfaction as it flowed over the cluster of iron dwarves to the right and the lights of their eyes dimmed momentarily.

She hastily began preparing the spell again, raising her hand to draw Brann's attention. She was dimly aware of the gnomes continuing their efforts, but her focus was on the spell matrix wiggling rebelliously in her head and the iron dwarves and vrykul pressed at the front. When the matrix was complete she dropped her hand, and Brann roared for his boys at the ramp to duck and fall back. At the same time Anette loosed her deep freeze spell, hitting the front rows of iron constructs in a spreading wave.

"Now!" Uncle Brann shouted. "Give 'em hell!"

Anette ignored the gouts of flame shooting from the tank as it slowly rolled forward, focusing the last of her reserves to create a final spell and get the iron constructs farther back. From the corner of her eye she saw Misel slump, spent. The iron dwarves and vrykul were panicking, trying to flee against the press in slow motion as the cold hampered their movements. Anette landed the last spell at the extreme edge of her range, further preventing their flight, as the flamethrower vehicle started up the ramp, its twin nozzles gouting liquid fire sweeping back and forth.

A few iron dwarves survived enough to escape the inferno, staggering on shattered legs, flailing jagged stumps of arms, and quickly cut down by earthen as they tried to attack the flamethrower vehicle.

Up the ramp it went, shattering metal dwarves and vrykul like popcorn, while the press of enemy beyond the range of her final spell fled back up the ramp.

"Now, lads!" Uncle Brann roared. "Chaaaarge!"

With a roar the Azerothian forces sprinted up the ramp, dancing over the shattered remains of the enemy and hacking down the few still living. Behind them the tanks rumbled with all speed, shelling the enemy attacking from behind over the heads of the rearguard. The shredder they were riding began stomping its stupid, awkward way up the ramp, and Anette caught a spar along its collar and held on, riding like a queen on procession.

She was the hero of the day. Everyone would love her after this.

At the top of the ramp she was treated to the sight of iron constructs fleeing across the colossal plateau like infuriated ants spilling across a sidewalk, the Explorer's League forces chasing behind. Ahead she saw the obelisk with its beautiful energy pulsing up to the dome, and at the foot of the structure a storm giant and a handful of iron vrykul sprawled, felled by precise blows.

Standing on the lowest ledge of the obelisk, one hand resting on the head of a nightsaber who managed to convey disgruntlement fairly well on its feline features, was her beloved. He saw her and grinned, and she grinned back.

"Showoff!" he mouthed across the distance.

Anette pointed at herself incredulously, then at him and his stupid storm giant kill in accusation, but his grin only widened. He was one to talk about showing off, always going for the leaders no matter how powerful or well defended they were.

. . . . .

As soon as they were in position the steam tanks began shelling the obelisk, forcing Hiezal and his cat friend to flee to safety. While the rearguard of earthen and a few vehicles held the ramp Uncle Brann led everyone else to the northwest edge of the plateau, which directly overlooked the entrance to Ulduar. Anette and Hiezal met him there, following his gaze to the other obelisks.

The neutral group's obelisk was already down, since no energy rose from it anymore. The Horde group swarmed around their obelisk, within moments of taking it out. The Alliance group was working to cross a bridge, fighting slowly and carefully and with a surprisingly large number of their forces intact.

"What do you think?" Hiezal asked. "We going to need to bail anyone out?"

Uncle Brann shrugged. "Mebbe to help them get ta the entrance. The Horde group ta the northwest can drop down right ta it, same as us, but the rest o' them have a harder fight o' it."

"Maybe you should just send them back to the landing," Anette said. "They can keep it clear for us or something."

The dwarf shook his head firmly, fiery beard flying. "Nah. With the dome down we can fly 'em here if we have ta. We'll need every one o' them ta get ta Yogg-Saron and defeat the Old God."

Anette nodded soberly, then stepped back to where Hiezal and his druid friend waited. Anasar had shifted back into a night elf, and Anette thought he was really handsome, even if he was almost twice as tall as her. Not as handsome as Hiezal, though. "Can you teach me to be a druid?"

The night elf blinked. "You're interested in serving nature?"

She shrugged one shoulder, her wide-collared shirt slipping halfway down her arm to bare it when she did. She noted with satisfaction how his eyes followed the moving cloth as it bared her skin. "Mostly I want to turn into a cute fluffy kitten and curl up on Hiezal's head while he walks around, and sometimes bat at his ears."

Anasar gave Nova a questioning look, but her guardian just shrugged. "It, ah, seems like a lot of discipline, training, and sacrifice to go to for a whim, my Lady," he said carefully.

Anette pouted prettily and moved over to hug his arm tight to her. "It's not a whim, it's my fondest wish!"

"Your fondest wish is to transform into a small, combat ineffective animal and irritate your guardian?"

"Isn't yours?" she asked innocently. "Which reminds me, I'd also probably tinkle on his head."

The night elf shifted uncomfortably. "I, ah, don't think it's appropriate to banter in this way while so many of our allies have died or are fighting for their lives."

"You're right." Anette kissed his arm, then broke away and went to stand at the very edge of the plateau again. The entrance to Ulduar opened like a giant mouth into the mountain, and she could almost feel the evil resonating from it. It was somewhat sobering to realize that for all the work they'd just put in, they were still on the front step of the facility.

She couldn't wait to see what kind of loot she'd find inside. Or the titan mysteries she'd discover. Who knew what questions about Azeroth and the Makers would be answered when they went through this place.